Orlando Christian Prep loses for first time in Montverde Invitational semifinals

January 31, 2014|By Buddy Collings, Orlando Sentinel

MONTVERDE — Matching Montverde Academy against a typical high-school team in boys basketball can look like the old Harlem Globettrotters toying with their punching bag of an opponent, the beleaguered Washington Generals.

Friday night had that feel, with a big crowd at Montverde treated to a display of dunks by the reigning national champion Eagles (21-1) in a 92-51 rout of overmatched Math, Civics and Sciences (9-10) of Philadelphia at the Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament.

The Elephants were easy prey for a squad that has six Division I signees and a 6-foot-9 junior who is rated the best of the bunch.

Montverde's 13 dunks and 9-of-16 shooting from 3-point range alone would have been good for a victory in the second semifinal.

The elite junior, 6-foot-8 Ben Simmons, joined Jordan Caroline, Justin Bibbs, Chris Egi and Makinde London in the slam show. The final flush was on an alley-oop dunk thrown straight down by 7-foot-4 junior reserve Jean Marc Christ Koumadje¿.

Ohio State signee D'Angelo Russell made fouir treys and joined Simmons with a game-high 16 points.

Orlando Christian Prep's hopes of taking a perfect record into an all-Central Florida final against Montverde were derailed in a 63-59 loss to Greensboro Day (24-2) of North Carolina in the first semifinal.

The defeat for the Class 2A top-ranked Warriors (22-1) also may have eliminated hopes of other prizes that had crept into conversations, such as a top-10 national ranking and Florida's second bid to the National High School Invitational at Madison Square Garden.

"When you're 22-0, you think about trying to keep it going and things that may come along with that," OCP coach Reggie Kohn said. "But what we really focus on is our district tournament [next week] and the state playoffs. This tournament makes us better."

Adonys Henriquez, a 6-foot-5 UCF signee, was 6-of-10 from 3-point land and scored a game-high 24 points for OCP.

The Warriors trailed by 10 early in the fourth quarter, but pulled to 53-52 when Henriquez and Mike Tolbert made consecutive 3-point shots and Henriquez added two free throws with 56.1 seconds left.

OCP's hopes were snuffed out when Bengals guards Bryan Souse and Darius Moore combined to make 10 of 10 free throws in the final 36 seconds.

Montverde will face Greensboro Day for the championship at 7:30 tonight. OCP will play for third place at 5:50 p.m.